Pages

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

G Watch R News: LG’s stunning round Android watch makes its way to South Korea first

LG’s second Android Wear smartwatch, the G Watch R, is about to go on sale. Revealed at the beginning of September, news of the new device’s launch is beginning to spread. Here’s what we know so far.

Updated 0n 10-08-2014 by Andy Boxall: LG has set the G Watch R’s release in South Korea for October 14.

When the G Watch R was announced, we were told to expect its eventual release to come around October time. Now, the company has confirmed in a blog post it’ll be up for sale from October 14, but sadly, only in South Korea at the moment. Local network Olleh already has the G Watch R on its website, where it has been priced at 352,000 won, which matches early rumor reports.

Initial speculation published by Korean news source ETNews, indicated the G Watch R would be out on October 16, while ZDNet Korea weighed in and said the watch would be on sale on October 7, although possibly restricted to pre-orders through certain retailers.

Both reports stated the price would be around 352,000 won, which equates to approximately $330, making the G Watch R about $70 more expensive, locally, than the first G Watch. In the U.S., the G Watch costs $230, so we could estimate the G Watch R’s price to be between $270 and $300 when it finally goes on sale.

The G Watch R shuns the angled design of the G Watch, and wraps a circular 1.3-inch P-OLED touchscreen in a metal body, complete with a leather strap. This gives the G Watch R a more traditional “watch” look, over the slightly geekily styled examples that have dominated the smartwatch scene over the past year.

LG’s round smartwatch will be the Motorola Moto 360’s first true competitor, coming equipped with Android Wear, a heart-rate monitor, a clever power-saving feature, and a cool style all of its own. We were impressed when we gave it a try at the IFA tech show.

Now all we have to do is wait for an international release date. We can’t imagine LG wanting to wait too long, given the Moto 360’s increasing popularity, and recent UK launch.